Production and sales of new cars across the United Kingdom have nosedived – and the reason is none other than the Brexit.

The United Kingdom had been scheduled to leave the European Union on March 29 this year and because of this, a host of local car manufacturers brought their annual factory shutdowns forward and closed facilities in late March and early April.

As a result, 56,999 fewer vehicles were built in the UK in April 2019 than the same month last year. This also means that year-to-date production is down significantly on last year, as are year-to-date sales, Auto Express reports.

This year, the number of vehicles built through the end of April sat at 70,971, well down from the 127,970 built over the same time period in 2018. Production of vehicles to be sold locally dropped by 43.7 per cent while those bound for overseas markets fell by 44.7 per cent.

What makes the lower production figures particularly bad is that the UK ended up missing its Brexit deadline and now isn’t tipped to leave until October 31. Local automakers will not be able to repeat their factory closures on this date like they did in late March where a number of contingency measures were put in place, including stockpiling and training for new customs procedures and rerouting of logistics.

According to Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders chief executive Mike Hawes, “fear” about a no-deal Brexit was “holding back progress, causing investment to stall, jobs to be lost and undermining our global reputation. Prolonged instability has done untold damage.”